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The Bod Pod: It's worse than you think

Some times, when you are a health coach, you feel all good and great about yourself. When one of your co-workers suggests doing a free Bod Pod scan, you go with her for moral support. Then you find out you suck. Luckily, at least the co-worker who dragged you there felt the same way and offers to come to your cry and eat ice cream party... but then we all talk each other out of it.If you don't know, the Bod Pod determines the % of fat your body is. It takes minutes and has been debated as far as it's accuracy, but is a fairly accepted tool at this point.And when you come out of that Bod Pod with your results, as a health coach, you realize you have to do more. So here is the million dollar question I ask people every day, all day long -- what can you do? followed by... what are you going to do?I decided to do something. I decided to work out harder with more strength training. Just losing fat isn't enough -- I need to be stronger. So... enter lots of free weights and Jillian Michaels DVDs. Ugh. I've been busting my butt for 3 weeks now and it's tiring. But I'm ready for results.I decided to eat better. The Bod Pod also gives you your Resting Metabolic Rate (how many calories you burn doing nothing but staying alive). Mine is on the high end, which explains my frequent chocolate eating (and lack of weight gain) and constant hunger. What am I doing? Cutting out junk. No sweets during the day. No 100 calorie M&Ms with my lunch (sad but true).One Diet Coke at lunch (artificial sweeteners have been shown to cause you to crave sweets, and I don't need any help). This was a tough one. I can't even express how hard it is just thinking about it. I find myself getting busy immediately after drinking my Diet Coke so I don't think about it. It is getting easier.More protein. Ugh. SO MUCH MORE PROTEIN. I hate it. But... I am not as hungry. I feel better. At least, for now. We'll see. I have whey shakes, bacon, egg whites, you name it. I like it all... but not that much. So upping to get protein to be a significant amount of my calories is taking some real effort and lots of Sparkpeople.com logging. I am doing my best, but in analyzing myself, it's going to be a stretch to think of this as any type of long-term change. So... we'll see how it goes.Getting hard-core gear. This isn't really about body fat loss, but more about trying to see if I can treat my body better. I've been working out in my Brooks PureConnect shoes and while they take some getting used to, I'm liking them. If you have not heard about minimalist work-out shoes or "barefoot running", you can google it. I'm transitioning my "pretty" work shoes to some Merrel flats that are both cute & secretly minimalist. I'll update on how I like them as I go.I will post on progress and results as I get them. But I will say this -- no matter who you are, you can do this, too. I'm a health coach, and I'll be the first to tell you this is difficult. I will also be the first to tell you I have every intention of eating cake at my niece's birthday tomorrow. But I'm going to be better. I'm going to improve. Want to join? Let me know! It is sort of what I do for 40 hours a week anyway :)

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